Sketches of the Character, Institutions, and Customs of the Highlanders of Scotland

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A. & W. Mackenzie, 1885 - 396 pages
 

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Page 17 - We were now treading that illustrious island, which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge, and the blessings of religion. To abstract the mind from all local emotion would be impossible, if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish, if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses ; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate...
Page 17 - Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses ; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me and from my friends be such frigid philosophy, as may conduct us indifferent and unmoved over any ground •which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. That man is little to be envied, whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the...
Page 65 - He whistled shrill, And he was answered from the hill ; Wild as the scream of the curlew, From crag to crag the signal flew. Instant, through copse and heath, arose Bonnets and spears and bended bows : On right, on left, above, below, Sprung up at once the lurking foe ; From shingles...
Page 186 - And this is also the cause why victuals be now in many places dearer. Yea, besides this the price of wool is so risen, that poor folks, which were wont to work it and make cloth thereof, be now able to buy none at alL And by this means very many be forced to forsake work and to give themselves to idleness.
Page 185 - ... it, or by wrongs and injuries they be so wearied that they be compelled to sell all.
Page 185 - All their household stuff, which is very little worth, though it might well abide the sale: yet being suddenly thrust out, they be constrained to sell it for a thing of nought. And when they have wandered...
Page 140 - I, AB, do swear, and as I shall answer to God at the ^reat day of judgment, I have not, nor shall have, in my possession any gun, sword, pistol, or arm whatsoever, and never use tartan, plaid, or any part of the Highland garb ; and if I do so, may I be cursed in my undertakings, family, and property...
Page 168 - ... dignity and hereditary power. The stranger, whose money buys him preference, considers himself as paying for all that he has, and is indifferent about the laird's honour or safety. The commodiousness of money is indeed great ; but there are some advantages which money cannot buy, and which therefore no wise man will by the love of money be tempted to forego.
Page 65 - That whistle garrisoned the glen At once with full five hundred men, As if the yawning hill to heaven A subterranean host had given. Watching their leader's beck and will, All silent there they stood, and still. Like the loose crags, whose threatening mass Lay tottering o'er the hollow pass, As if an infant's touch' could urge Their headlong passage down the verge, With step and weapon forward flung, Upon the mountain-side they hung.
Page 72 - ... and so dexterous in conveying to him the necessaries he required in his long confinement, that not a trace of him could be discovered, nor an individual found base enough to give a hint to his detriment.

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